Alberto Giacometti OR Alice Neel Family Portrait Project

Materials: – Ballpoint pen – acrylic paint – acrylic gesso – charcoal

Project Emphasis Layering, Mark Making, Expression through Line, Abstraction, Psychology of Sitter, Line Quality, Surface Manipulation, Texture,.

Guiding Questions 1.How can line and color influence the mood of a painting? 2.How can an artist use expression and/or abstraction to portray a psychological rendering of a figure? 3.Is a distorted rendered figure less impressive than a realistic rendered figure?

The work of Alberto Giacometti As you view the following slides, carefully observe the used of contour line, muted color tones, framing, and textural brushwork. How does the style of Giacometti’s work make you feel? How do you think he was feeling while creating these portraits?

The work of Alice Neel How does color affect the viewer? How does color connect to the sitter? Pay particular attention to the gestural line work of Neel’s figures. Reflect on this: How do you react to a painting that might seem ‘unfinished’ but is deemed complete by the artist? When is a painting or drawing completely finished? How can you know?

Project Requirements Acrylic paint must be used, no colors are allowed straight out of the tube. You must work from an original photograph of a family member. It can be an old photograph. You must experiment with gestural contour line, whether in a Neel fashion or Giacometti fashion. If you work on paper, it has to be a very heavy weighted paper – I suggest a canvas or canvas board. Remember this – less is more. Consider a frame within a frame composition (Giacometti style)